


In need of an assistant

by Thesecretmrsmith



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Wandlore (Harry Potter), staff lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2020-09-29 22:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20443229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesecretmrsmith/pseuds/Thesecretmrsmith
Summary: Hogwarts grew after the battle of Hogwarts, this story is about the Ancient Runes teachers' pet project.  Neville is now master of herbology and head of Gryffindor, and Luna has taken over Olivander's shop. McGonagall is still headteacher, Harry is still an aura but mostly now works with training new Aurors and is called in occasionally when they know there is going to be combat.  I will add noted for anyone else it becomes relevant to know about. (It's even quite possible that the partner was once a background hufflepuff.) Our main character is an OC teacher.





	1. Chapter 1

"Now child, what does this rune mean?"

"I do not know sir, I have never seen it before and can't find it in the textbook."

"Dismissed."

The professor sighed and went in search of his partner. Eventually he remembered on Friday mornings they took first year potions for Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. As he descended to the dungeons he thought again about the clever little bits of design the founders had built in. Helga was the one to highlight the perfect use for the basements as potions classes apparently, something to do with a non magical buffer allowing for proper temperatures. As he approached the door he heard his wife's voice.

"Class, as you may notice one ingredient on the potion that you found most interesting in your textbook is highlighted. Next lesson you will present to the class a presentation on everything that is required, to be able to understand that ingredient in terms of your potions purpose, and how to use that ingredient correctly, including common mistakes. The best presenter will decide which potion we make before the Christmas break. I am also going to set you a second piece of homework, you will each write to 3 people outside of Hogwarts by Monday's lesson, I have a feeling some of you may not have been showing proper regard for your friends from home as this school has you overwhelmed. Also now that we have all had our first flying lessons I will be on the quiditch pitch this Saturday with a dozen quaffles, if anyone would like to join me." He heard her sit down and the students start to rise and entered the classroom.

"Ah hello my mighty wombat, how goes the hunt?"

"Disastrous my darling," He sat down and reached for a plate of biscuits that somehow was always full on the desk. (It's almost like a Hufflepuff may have befriended the house elves.) "I really thought that the Longbottom boy may have had a similar skill to his dads herbology. I may even have to try and recruit from abroad at this rate. Luna doesn't have any ideas, does she, dear?"

She looked up at him and then back down at the parchment in her hands. "No dear, I spoke to her in the fire last night and she doesn't know anyone else who could help, she did say she would come and help but she heard from Charlie Weasley and is now off to Romania for february."

"Bollocks."

"She did say that she is having a copy of Wand Lore and Law printed for us to borrow. She can't let us keep it unfortunately due to the terms of Ollivander's will."

"And how is the cauldron doing? Has the unicorn hair disintegrated yet? How did Luna's trip to St Mungo's go for the other half?"

His wife looked up at him with that look of love and impatience. "OK, Nearly, and she thinks it's nearly enough the water is starting to colour."

As may be obvious our champion in this endeavour was getting a little excited and nearly bouncing on his feet. Professor Estrid Johnson looked at a box in the corner, giving her partner the hint to take Page for a walk through the orchards. Estrid however, went back to the Sudoku in her hands.

****************************************************************

We next find Professor Samuel Johnson going through a letter from Luna.

****************************************************************

_Hey Sam,_

_How are you and Estrid? Did the diadem help? Estrid did say there had been lots of trouble with wrackspurts and fuzzy thinking when they offered you the job. So I have been travelling a lot and thought you both may be able to help whilst at Hogwarts. I need a potion brewing and a unicorn hair exposing to the purest joy, so I was thinking, could you take it to the first years flying lessons and to quiditch matches for me? Estrid is going to purify the water for me and then dissolve the unicorn hair in it. From what I can see of the notes Olivander had in the back of the shop the healing power of the unicorn should if soaked and prepared correctly can counterbalance the temperamental nature you normal get with thestral core wands. I did try and get hold of a Heliopath's spit to help prepare the wand wood too but they seem to have gone into hiding after escaping from Fudge. My other issue is which wood to use? I originally thought that the perfect healer's wand would need elm to help guide the healers hands and prevent errors, but the arrogance you tend to find in people suited to elm would never do. They would never understand healing is there to improve life and not prolong it, it's why I picked the thestral core you know, it will never accept someone who is scared of death or thinks it is the opponent. If you see Harry ask him if he thinks this had anything to do with that wand and Voldemort please. Hawthorn is known to be a good healer but would a calm bedside manner work with it? There are far too many grumpy healers, I think it may be the infirtroo's you get in hospitals nibbling on them when it's quiet. Hawthorn may help to make sure the wand would go to someone capable of the work. Willow is another possibility as it may help to find an adaptable healer. Your mum's saying about an apple a day also rings true, and these wands and pear come so that both may help to keep to the darker bits occasionally necessary from taking over. I think leaving it with Page maybe a good idea, she is bound to have some ideas. Can you also ask Winky could get me the cinnamon pear cake recipe that I liked so much at Hogwarts. Next time I see you remind me to talk about druids, I found some great notes in a little village near Erquy._

_Much love but I am going to have to leave it there, it's going dark and muggles make such a fuss if they see me diving skyclad._

_L❤️na_


	2. High Standards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank Abbott Longbottom stays behind after class.

We find Sam's custom classroom where he takes his highest level student's for class. Almost the whole 3rd floor in the great staircase tower, it's a circular room set out much like an amphitheatre but with four large chalk boards on the outside of the room with a door between two, in the middle is a table with no chair, and another chalkboard but this time on a wooden frame.

"So class, in conclusion what have we covered today?"

Frank hesitatingly raised his hand

"Err, Druids society had the eldest families in charge of the defence of their homes, whilst newer families were expected to advance knowledge and research."

Our Professor passed him the portable chalkboard and the writing appeared on each board as Frank added it to the board.

"Very good, something else please Miss Gamp."

"We believe that most standing stones where written instructions on collaborative magic, but the weather has worn them away without any fresh protection charms being added."

Sam gestured to Frank and the board was passed, again the notes ended up on each wall.

"Very good, you will find on the table is an image of a restored stone, this is the first known attempt to translate this. IF you find any interesting magic to try you will be expected to seek a teachers permission and guidance in whether to attempt it. Anyone who does not will be getting a troll in this class. I would like to see how far we can get with the translation on Wednesday afternoon, you have 2 days to see what you can do individually before we tackle this together."

As everyone else files out of the room Frank steps up to the desk.

"Ok Frank, why do you think I did not allow you to continue on Friday, it has obviously been on your mind all weekend?"

"Because I am not good enough sir?"

"You are correct in that, you found a rune you could not translate and because you could not find it in the books you stopped. I will remind you about the idea of reading for context and seeing what the missing word or letter could be. I will also highlight to you these runes," He grabs a scrap of parchment from behind him. "Notice the similarities, and how these two have been combined to create the rune. I will not be taking you on as my assistant with the druidic vault work as you are not good enough. Your attitude needs to improve if you want to work in a job that will challenge the foundations of our society in future. I do however look forwards to seeing what you can bring to the group on Wednesday."

"For one mistake Professor?"

"Yes Mr Longbottom, if that rune had been a warning about the danger of the rest of the piece, which does happen, then we could have ended up trying magic that could well kill you. My standards here match the seriousness of the work we do. Now go, you are going to be late to potions and I will not have you use me as an excuse."

****************************************************************

This is a cave in the side of a mountain, there is a large finger painting on the back wall of three different sized figures. In it we find our professor sat next to a fire and with a mobile phone (a Nokia 3310, as if you are going to risk exposing electric to magic you need it to be reliable).

"Hi mum, how's everything at home?"

"The same as when you left, though Barbara three doors down did win at the bingo last week. How is this new college? I am so proud of you working at a private school."

"That's a shame, does she still park in front of the drive? And yeah, it's incredible. The students here are capable of things I couldn't even dream of, I am so proud of them all. I am even doing high level historical research with them."

"She does.... Oooh, what are you researching love?"

"Gaelic translations and British history, I am afraid I can't stop as I need to go back and do some more lesson prep. I love you."

Rummaging in his pocket he finds an old battered compass and stares at it as he wanders his way back to the school.

*******************************************************************

Friday's lesson of ancient runes is a treat to celebrate the work put into the translation (it was an active rune pattern to keep wild animals away).

"On the table is a stone slab preserved since the time of the druids, we have been allowed to study this artefact by the Diagon museum. Class we are looking at the non-active runes still and most impressively if you look at the slab you can see every language you understand at the front and every other known language and a few others besides." A quick glance around the NEWT students sees them all rapt. "Anyone here multilingual?" Unfortunately a look around the room reveals no hands. "Very well," the Professor continues to recite poems in 3 languages. "Which languages were they?"

"French, Gaelic and something else sir."

"Very good Mr Longbottom, 10 points for Ravenclaw. Can anyone recognise the last language for a further 10 points?"

A muttering from a muggleborn student is heard, "sounds like bloody gobbledygook to me."

"Excellent Mr Vincent, have you had many dealings with Goblins?"

"Errmmm, no sir, it just didn't make sense."

"Oh, 10 points have been earned for Gryffindor anyway. This artefact is known as the druid's oath stone. In English it reads," he does not even glance at the stone book looks around the room.

" A druid is law and lore,

and oh so much more.

We are our people's shield,

And with the power we wield,

We shall be their balm,

And their warriors arm.

And so when our life does end,

Our line continues with our friend,

Our roots are wide and deep,

For people and land we keep."

"Importantly this poem was inscribed before the modern language came to be, so this version of the poem has been magically made to pass key information so I will expect an essay from each of you in a weeks time suggesting the pertinent information." He grabbed a chalk and wrote onto the centre chalkboard so that a copy of the poem appeared on each of the four boards. "This afternoon you will be looking at the active runes with Professor Blishen, no one has yet managed to recreate these runes so be prepared to struggle."


	3. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progress is made and a few more things become clear.

A NEWT classroom filled with first years is always a peculiar sight especially when they are studying a different subject. The classroom is silent as Sam writes on the portable chalkboard from the centre of the class and the text is duplicated on each of the four walls.

_You will notice that unlike your other teachers, I do not use a wand to write or have ever been seen with one. To confirm the rumours, yes I am a muggle who passed the Wizards' Ordinary Magic and Basic Aptitude Test (WOMBAT). The runes around these boards were made by professor Blishen to allow me to teach without the aid of magic. I attempt to make use of my muggle training as an educator here in teaching what I can. A muggle classroom would achieve this by using electricity and computers. For those of you who do not know a computer is a thinking box, it will also play games and allow muggles to watch television programs through the computer. The basics are that electricity is power (used as an alternative to magic), by plugging a computer into electricity it can calculate and connect muggles to people around the world like the telephone allows them to talk to each other ( a sound only conversation like fire speech). Muggles have to prepare with electricity so where wizards can react to fix problems or make life easier. A great example of this is washing up, you would normally run the water, heat it magically and then set up a self scrubbing charm which can all be achieved in a simple sink. Muggles either have to apply heated water in advance and stand there scrubbing or buy a machine that they can put their washing into and then it will squirt water hard enough to clean their crockery. From discussions I have had with other teachers since starting here muggleborn students are much more likely to use innovative practical uses of magic when applying the same spell. _

"Tell me Mr Finch have you ever played computer games and if so which is your favourite?"

Amongst the sea of black and yellow robes a quiet voice stammered out, "ye-yes ssssir, ssskkkskskyrim sir."

"Very good, Skyrim is a game where you try to kill dragons, the way this works is easiest explained as you control a character on a screen and can move around the game world trying to kill dragons with sword and staff and learning skills to help you on your journey. The screen essentially looks like a wizard painting except the background can also move but will always be the same if you return to the same point, The problem solving skills muggles learn through these games can help them to think innovatively but some become to keen on pretending to be someone else. It also means you can play if you can't find a partner to play wizards chess. We will leave this there for today, and I will see you next week."

* * *

Wednesday nights are put aside for games of chess amongst the staff. This week our professor is playing against Boncy, a house elf who is too old to do manual labour anymore but still effectively manages all of hogwarts' workloads amongst the house elves.

"It is a shame you can't convince Pitts that after the washing up is done it is entirely appropriate for senior house elves to play chess with the staff and have social interactions with us. You always say how helpful it has been to be able to discuss timetabling and houses with us recently."

"Knight to G3, master is most correct, since master Snape gave his life for this school I have not had to deal with two lots of first year potions lessons in a row. Master first years always encourage us to work especially hard."

The respectful way that Boncy has of moaning about his charges set Sam off guffawing again, but was rudely interrupted as the door slammed open.

"Mr Vincent what is going on?"

Paul looked a little sheepish realizing he had just barged into his professors office. "I am sorry professor but I thought you would want to see this. I tried wider research around the druids to try and help me with the poem. It all leads back to Merlin, the inheritor of the druids. Every picture I found of him...." Books start to come out of his bag, some of whom must be larger than the bag itself, which would make no sense unless a wizard did it. Sam glanced over to Boncy with a keen grin on his face and received a flourish that only a house elf could manage, somehow it contained the message to carry on, respect, an offer of assistance and a slight amusement at how both the younger men were acting.

"Every single picture shows a man with a staff professor. The poem talks about roots and continuing to support others after you died and miss Lovegood said when I got my wand that I would teach it as much as it taught me. What caused all the stories about magical staves in muggle lore. I could find nothing in the library"

Our professor lost a little bit of his decorum at this point.

"Boncy, would you scribe for me?" The armchair rotated towards the pair with the chessboard floating up out of the way as the arms span around before returning to its table and by the time the chair had rotated Boncy had a quill and parchment in hand.

_"Hi Luna,_

_Big question time, what do you know about the idea of wizards staffs? All of muggle lore seems to have wizards using large staffs to cast spells and a wonderfully inquisitive student of mine has just highlighted this too me after we looked at an old self translating druidic poem (the oathstone). I look forwards to hearing from you soon._

_Sam._

Thankyou Boncy, would you mind if we finished the game next week?" And the whole chair tumbled into itself and disappeared. "Now then Paul, I hope you will continue to investigate whilst I visit the other parts of the library that you may not. Please could you ask my Wife to join me in the library on the way back to your common room. It is nearly curfew."

The lateness of the hour being a huge blessing here as some of the books in the restricted section would take two skilled magicians to deal with and they would need madam Pince.

* * *


	4. Moody and impatient.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On those past and progress lost.

On her 3rd cup of coffee of the morning in their private suite Estrid looks up at her husband.

"Sam, why did I go to the effort to create a silencing bed if you are not going to activate it? Luna could you have at least put a charm up?"

Luna grimaced, she often forgot how other people think.

"Sorry Estrid, I was excited to be back and I forgot. Sorry I couldn't be here, I have managed to harvest a dozen dragon heartstrings from the Hungarian Horntail that Charlie had told me about, poor thing died of pneumonia. They are perfect for the auror's war wands. I don't suppose Fawkes has been seen recently? I have an idea for a way to enhance the phoenix feather core using Norweigan Ridgeback blood and I have fresh blood right now? OW"

A chuckle from Sam who was sat with Luna on his knee and who had resorted to pinching her side to get her attention.

"Luna no one has seen Fawkes for years. My turn for a question, what can you tell me of stavelore?" "Well Sir, Moody had a wand and a staff. Unfortunately it was never recovered but..."

She pulled her wand from her dressing gown pocket and pointed to her bag. A book zoomed across and fell on to the table.

_The Durmstrang Defence, the unbound stave. _Harfang Munter

************************************************************************************************************************************************************

The art of binding the staff has been lost, this means that although a staff will also channel ambient magic it tends to channel more magic inefficiently from the core of the wizard and is hence both destructive and exhausting...

Examinations of old families staves find the cores slowly gather strength, though this does not stay in the staff and will seep out if not used regularly. This Magic does not seem to be controllable or useable....

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************

We find ourselves in Sam's office, with just him and Luna, her bags packed and ready on the desk.

"Thanks Sam for the last couple of days, and thankyou for the new rune layout for the wands that should be really helpful, also thankyou sir for the last couple of nights, please can we do it again soon."

A knowing look from Sam with a smug little smile on his lips.

" I hope so too, it is quite alright but you need to go. Rolf has plans to punish you for leaving him stuck in charge of the shops for the last few months. By the way, you are to apparate home "skyclad." 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work and is probably not going to be that long. It is definitely getting longer but also feels rather disjointed and like I need to work on ways to pass information outside of conversation. I also rather like the fact she uses wombat as a pet name, it may tie into some lore I only learned today...


End file.
